2025 Tech Hub Live

Field Notes from Koch Agronomic Services – Episode 25

Chuck Zimmerman

The Field Notes podcast series from Koch Agronomic Services breaks down the science and technology behind agronomy to help growers do more with less.

Success is in the Science – How CENTURO Protects your Nitrogen

In this episode, our experts go through the science behind the KAS nitrification inhibitor, CENTURO. They explain the truth of how the field-proven, EPA-registered formula works with anhydrous ammonia and UAN to help protect growers’ nitrogen investments. Lacie Thomas, technical agronomist for KAS, and Stacey Wertz, KAS senior research chemist, also discuss how Pronitridine, the active ingredient in CENTURO, offers highly effective below-ground protection against leaching and denitrification for fall- and spring-applied nitrogen.

You can listen to the program here: Success is in the Science – How CENTURO Protects your Nitrogen (14:31)

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Agribusiness, Audio, Fertilizer, Koch Agronomic Services, Podcasts, Soil

USDA Announces Value Added Producer Grants

Cindy Zimmerman

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Thursday announced the awarding of $9.6 million across the country and taking several other steps to help farmers, ranchers, processors and rural businesses diversify the nation’s meat supply.

The Department is awarding 23 Value Added Producer Grant program grants totaling $3.9 million to help producer-owned companies process and market new products. USDA is also providing guarantees for a total of $5.7 million in loans to two companies through the Food Supply Chain Guaranteed Loan Program using American Rescue Plan funding. This program supports new investments in infrastructure for food aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storage, transportation, wholesaling and distribution. Through these two programs, USDA is investing in 25 projects in California, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

In his first call with reporters for 2023, Vilsack answered questions on a few other topics, including the announcement that Senate Agriculture Committee chair Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) will not seek re-election in two years, getting a new farm bill done, the current status of Mexico’s plan to ban GMO corn, and whether Congress should re-introduce cattle marketing legislation this year. Listen to the call below.

USDA press call 1-5-23 (28:37)

Audio, Beef, Livestock, Meat, USDA

Deere Introduces New Planting Tech at CES 2023

Cindy Zimmerman

The massive CES 2023 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas kicked off this week with a keynote address by John Deere featuring Chairman and CEO John May and new product announcements.

This is the first time in CES history that an agriculture technology company was featured as a keynote at the show. John Deere first debuted at CES 2019 and has been exhibiting each year since, highlighting the importance of innovation in agriculture. “I know some of you are wondering, why should you care about farmers when they represent less than two percent of the U.S. population,” said May. “It’s farmers from across the world who undertake the enormous task of growing the food, fuel and fiber we all need.”

Deanna Kovar, Deere Vice President of Production and Precision Ag Production Systems, had the pleasure of introducing a new planting technology called ExactShot, which allows farmers to reduce the amount of starter fertilizer needed during planting by more than 60 percent. “The technology uses sensors and robotics to place starter fertilizer precisely onto seeds as they are planted in the soil, rather than applying a continuous flow of fertilizer to the entire row of seeds,” said Kovar.

Last year at CES, Deere introduced a fully autonomous tractor ready for large-scale production. While attendance at the huge event was down last year post-COVID, CES 2023 is expected to have as many as 100,000 attendees this year.

Listen to May and Kovar’s remarks this morning at CES 2023 below and you can watch the livestreamed video here.

CES 2023 John Deere keynote (30:38)

Audio, Equipment, John Deere, Planting, Technology

2022 was a Very Good Year for Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

For the first time in several years the good news outweighed the bad for the ethanol industry in 2022.

In this edition of the Ethanol Report, Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper takes a look at the year in review for the industry and takes a peek at what 2023 may have in store.

Ethanol Report 12-19-22 22:42

The Ethanol Report is a podcast about the latest news and information in the ethanol industry that has been sponsored by the Renewable Fuels Association since 2008.

Choose an option to subscribe

Audio, Ethanol, Podcasts, RFA

Industry Ag News 1/4

Carrie Muehling

  • American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall commented on EPA’s issuance of yet another Waters of the United States Rule, which will replace the Navigable Waters Protection Rule. “AFBF is extremely disappointed in the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers’ new Waters of the United States Rule. Farmers and ranchers share the goal of protecting the nation’s waterways, but they deserve rules that don’t require a team of attorneys and consultants to identify ‘navigable waters’ on their land.
  • The American Farm Bureau Federation will present its highest honors, the Distinguished Service Award and the Farm Bureau Founders Award, to former AFBF Executive Vice President Dale Moore and former North Carolina Farm Bureau President Larry Wooten, respectively, during the 2023 American Farm Bureau Convention, Jan. 6-11 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
  • The International Federation of Agricultural Journalism (IFAJ) and Alltech have opened nominations for the 2023 IFAJ/Alltech Young Leaders program. The deadline to apply is January 30, 2023.
  • EOS SAT-1, the first imaging satellite to be built by Dragonfly Aerospace, has lifted off from SpaceX’s launch site in Cape Canaveral, Florida as part of the Transporter-6 mission. The satellite is the first of a seven-satellite constellation in low Earth orbit for customer EOSDA (EOS Data Analytics). The remaining six satellites of the constellation will be deployed over the next three years.
  • ADM is bringing forward authentic stories of producers and their crucial role in our nation’s food supply chain through a new video series titled “Faces of Food.” Each episode features a different farm family, their unique operation, challenges they’ve faced, and how local community support has been a factor in their growth, innovation and success.
  • The Alabama Peanut Producers Association seeks eligible peanut producers who are interested in serving on the National Peanut Board. The Alabama Peanut Producers Association will hold a nominations election to select two nominees each for member and alternate to the National Peanut Board during a meeting on February 2, 2023, following the Alabama-Florida Peanut Trade Show. All eligible peanut producers are encouraged to participate. Eligible producers are those who are engaged in the production and sale of peanuts and who own or share the ownership and risk of loss of the crop.
  • Applications are now available for the 16th annual “We Believe in Growing” scholarship, presented by E.M. Tharp and World Ag Expo. The scholarship was created to support agriculture education and encourage students from the Central Valley to pursue a career in agriculture. High school seniors from Madera, Fresno, Tulare, Kings, and Kern counties are eligible for the scholarship. To apply, students must plan to attend a four-year college or university with a focus on pursuing an agricultural career. Two students will be awarded a $10,000 scholarship and the funds will be disbursed over four years at $2,500 per year. The deadline to apply is January 13, 2023.
  • Following a two-month decline and a year of weak sentiment, the Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer closed out the year on a more positive note, rallying 24 points in December to a reading of 126. U.S. farmers were more optimistic about both their current situation and expectations for the future. The Current Conditions Index jumped 37 points to a reading of 135, while the Future Expectations Index increased 18 points to a reading of 122. The Ag Economy Barometer is calculated each month from 400 U.S. agricultural producers’ responses to a telephone survey. This survey was conducted from December 5-9.
  • Registration for the 34th Independent Professional Seed Association (IPSA) Annual Conference closes January 9. The IPSA conference will be held January 24-26 in Tucson, Arizona.
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RaboResearch North America Names Senior Dairy Analyst

Cindy Zimmerman

Dairy industry research analyst and economist Lucas Fuess has been appointed Senior Dairy Analyst at RaboResearch Food & Agribusiness (F&A) team in North America. Fuess has served the dairy industry throughout his entire career and gained recognition domestically and globally for his foresight and first-hand industry knowledge.

Rabobank’s RaboResearch F&A group is a global team of more than 75 analysts who monitor and evaluate global market events that affect food and agriculture worldwide. Fuess will join more than 20 analysts based in North America who are internationally respected experts in sectors ranging from dairy to produce, farm inputs, to consumer foods and beverages. The F&A team discerns key insights into agricultural markets; conducts in-depth analysis of the factors that drive sector success or failure; and examines megatrends that ultimately influence clients’ business strategies.

Fuess comes to Rabobank from HighGround Dairy, where he was responsible for leading the dairy market analysis group and delivering maximum analytical value to global dairy clients through published market research and client engagement. Before joining HighGround, Lucas spent seven years at Glanbia Nutritionals as a dairy analyst and economist.

Agribusiness, Animal Agriculture, Dairy

Precision Ag News 12/29

Carrie Muehling

  • The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced an investment of $9.5 million to support the scale-up of sustainable bioproduct manufacturing in the United States. Three successful projects are funded through USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s (NIFA) Bioproduct Pilot Program, which funds research and development of value-added products from agricultural commodities.
  • USDA’s $9.5 million investment in sustainable U.S. bioproduct manufacturing will fund research and development of value-added products from agricultural commodities, including soy. The innovative soy project, run by Soylei Innovations of Ames, Iowa, transforms high oleic soybean oil into thermoplastic rubber for pavements, and has had the support of ASA and its farmer leaders.
  • The 6th Annual VISION Conference organized by Meister Media Worldwide, the leading global media company serving specialty agricultural markets around the globe, returns to the Renaissance Phoenix Glendale Hotel & Spa in Arizona on January 17-18, 2023.
  • The American Soybean Association and 19 other agricultural groups argued before the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals on Dec. 15 in Red River Valley Sugarbeet Growers Association, et al. v. Michael Regan, et al. (Eighth Cir. 22-1422). The groups urged the court to reinstate chlorpyrifos tolerances that the Environmental Protection Agency has found safe. EPA arbitrarily revoked those safe tolerances for chlorpyrifos, which effectively ended agricultural uses of the important pesticide. The decision has inflicted enormous costs on thousands of farmers across the country and undermined their ability to protect their crops from devastating insect pests.
  • Organic Seed Alliance (OSA) published a comprehensive policy platform for advancing equitable and resilient seed systems in the next Farm Bill and beyond. The platform provides recommendations on how Congress, regulatory agencies, and state governments can support organic seed producers and the diversity of our national seed supply.
AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes, Precision Agriculture

Animal Ag News 12/27

Carrie Muehling

  • As of Dec. 1, there were 73.1 million hogs and pigs on U.S. farms, down 2% from December 2021 and down 1% from Sept. 1, 2022, according to the Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).
  • “The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) applauds Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s announcement on the extension of lower tariff rates on pork and other food items. Gaining better market access to the Philippines has been a top trade priority for U.S. pork producers. We hope that the U.S. and the Philippines will continue to work toward establishing better market access through the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. This comes at the heels of NPPC working with the U.S. and Philippine governments to work on the prevention and preparedness against the spread of African swine fever throughout the country and region. This extension is an essential component of the commitment of NPPC and the United States to Food Security for the Philippines.”
  • Gail G. Klinkner, a Liberty Pole, Wis., dairy farmer, is newly appointed to serve on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Dairy Promotion and Research Board (NDB). Klinkner will serve alongside 35 additional dairy farmer members representing 12 geographic regions within the U.S. and one importer representing dairy importers.
  • Tyne Morgan, host of the U.S. Farm Report, will reprise her role as moderator at the Animal Agriculture Alliance’s 2023 Stakeholders Summit, scheduled for May 4-5 in Arlington, Va. Registration is set to open in early January.
  • 4-Hers from around the country recently participated in the National 4-H Poultry and Egg Conference at the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center in Louisville. The conference offers the students a variety of opportunities to learn about the poultry and egg industries, while also providing an opportunity to interact with industry leaders. The USPOULTRY Foundation is a long-time sponsor of the event, and support for the Conference is made possible in part by a Foundation gift from Amick Farms.
  • With over 6 billion #MilkFanatics, the Milk Hall Of Fame announced the beta launch of a new and updated www.MilkHallOfFame.com website.
  • The International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE) offers attendees access to the latest in protein and feed technology through exhibits and educational programing. TECHTalks are free, 20-minute technical presentations, offered each day at IPPE.
AgWired Animal, Animal Agriculture, Animal Bites

Industry Ag News 12/23

Carrie Muehling

  • AgriThority has developed a new association with DnA Advisory Services. With a focus on North America and Europe, the addition of the DnA Advisory team will deepen the AgriThority business and market development expertise and amplify services in Europe.
  • The International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) and Corteva Agriscience have extended the application deadline for the 2023 IFAJ/Corteva Master Class to December 31, 2022. The program brings together agricultural journalists and communicators from non-member countries for professional development, networking and leadership training in a unique Boot Camp that includes workshops and farm tours. Master Class participants—selected by an international panel of judges—will also attend the IFAJ World Congress in Olds, Alberta, Canada, from June 27 through July 3, 2023. Travel, accommodation and registration fees are paid through a grant from Corteva.
  • Torrey Advisory Group (TAG) is proud to add Jacqueline Muhammad to the policy team as a director of government affairs. Jacqueline joins the firm with nearly a decade of experience specializing in agriculture and food policy, capacity building, and campaign management.
  • Join us on February 23-24, 2023 at USDA’s largest annual gathering — the 2023 Agricultural Outlook Forum. With the theme “U.S. Agriculture: Seeds of Growth Through Innovation,” the Forum will focus on the role of innovation in driving agricultural growth while ensuring sustainability. More than 30 sessions and 100 agriculture leaders and subject matter experts will discuss key issues impacting the sector. Check out session details here.
  • Alltech continues to partner in the Women in Food & Agriculture Mentorship Program. Applications are now open for new mentors of any gender and for female mentees from across the global food and agriculture sector. Now in its third year, the free-to-join program matches applicants based on their preferences, which can include gender of mentor, areas of expertise, language and industry sector, and offers opportunities for women in food and agriculture to develop meaningful industry connections.
  • Dustin Johansen, Senior Vice President, Enterprise Solutions, Farm Journal, was re-elected chairman of the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City at the group’s annual meeting held December 14. Ron Seeber, who serves as CEO Kansas Agribusiness Retailers Association, Kansas Grain and Feed Association, and Renew Kansas Biofuels Association was re-elected vice chairman.
  • MN AG EXPO returns in 2023 with a robust agenda that promises to bring lasting connections and conversations among the agriculture community. Minnesota’s premier indoor agriculture trade show is held Jan. 18-19, 2023, at the Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center in Mankato. The Minnesota Corn Growers Association (MCGA), which co-sponsors MN AG EXPO, and MSGA are holding their annual meetings and finalizing 2023 policy resolutions on Wednesday, Jan. 18 and Thursday, Jan. 19, respectively.
  • The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has mailed the 2022 Census of Agriculture paper questionnaires to all known agriculture producers across the nation and Puerto Rico. Producers in the states also received their survey codes with an invitation to respond online. Any producer who did not respond online now has the option to complete the ag census at agcounts.usda.gov or by mail. Producers who have already responded to the 2022 Census of Agriculture online do not need to respond again. The deadline for response is Feb. 6, 2023.
  • If you can’t make it to the American Farm Bureau Convention in person, there is a virtual option. Visit AnnualConvention.fb.org/Virtual for a full schedule of events included with a Virtual Only Registration for only $25.
  • At the annual board of directors meeting in December, the United Sorghum Checkoff Program (USCP) swore in a new director, Zack Rendel of Miami, Oklahoma, who was appointed by U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The board also elected officers, selecting Adam Schindler of Reliance, South Dakota, as its new chairman.
  • Megan Waeltz of Marissa, Illinois, has been named the national winner of the 2023 GROWMARK essay contest for FFA members. The theme of this year’s contest was “How can agricultural cooperatives stay relevant to future generations?” Waeltz is a student at Marissa High School and a member of the Marissa FFA Chapter. Her FFA advisor is Kim Portz. She will receive a $1000 award from GROWMARK, and the Marissa FFA will receive $750.
  • The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative are accepting applications for new members to serve on agricultural trade advisory committees. Members of the Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee provide advice to the administration on the implementation and enforcement of existing U.S. trade agreements, negotiation of new agreements, and other trade policy matters. Members of the six Agricultural Technical Advisory Committees, or ATACs, provide technical advice and guidance on international trade issues that affect specific agricultural commodity sectors. Application instructions are available at https://www.fas.usda.gov/trade-advisory-committees-applying-membership. Applications must be received by 5 p.m. ET on Jan. 31, 2023. Any applications received after the deadline will be considered for future appointments, as appropriate.
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